7 Things: Byrne to announce he will challenge Doug Jones, Alabama politicians race to react to a publication with 3,000 subscribers, gas tax increase could be 12 cents a gallon and more …

7. The Democratic Party has a new front-runner — he’s a 77-year-old white male socialist

— Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is in the primary to be the next Democratic presidential nominee. He polls better than any other candidate currently in the race. The only suspected candidate that out-polls him is former VP Joe Biden. Sanders is the second choice for voters who choose Biden. He was able to raise $228 million in 2016 and brings that fundraising ability with him.

6. Secretary of State John Merrill has been sued by the Libertarian Party of Alabama

— Libertarians are suing Merrill for charging the party roughly $34,000 for a list of registered voters. Alabama law provides these voters list to Republicans and Democrats at no charge, but that is because they are qualified major parties. Merrill believes he is unable to provide the list for free because the Libertarian Party is not a major party and can’t be without achieving ballot access.

5. President Donald Trump reportedly wanted a friendly district attorney involved in the Michael Cohen investigation in New York

— The New York Times is reporting that the president wanted then-acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to appoint a Trump ally to oversee the investigation into former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. Whitaker told the president he could not, as the person Trump suggested had recused himself from the case. Trump denies pressuring Whitaker, Whitaker denies being pressured and there isn’t much new here. Cohen would eventually plead guilty and say that Trump ordered him to arrange the payments to the women. He will start serving three years in prison for campaign finance violations soon.

4. The U.S. Census Bureau believes hundreds of thousands of illegals will not fill out a census form if they are asked about citizenship

— The government entity told the White House that 630,000 households may not complete the census because a question asking about citizenship question. This only involves .5 percent of the population and a bureau document found “the Census Bureau has identified no credible quantitative evidence that the addition of a citizenship question would impact the net undercount of the 2020 Census.” There are multiple court cases over the matter, including one involving Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville).

3. We have our first look at what a gas tax increase could look like in the upcoming Alabama legislative session

— State Senator Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) laid out the current state of play for the gas tax debate and signaled the current plan would have a hard time passing. The plan calls for a 12-cent increase in the current gas tax, with eight cents going to ALDOT, three cents to the counties and one cent to the cities. The division of the cities’ money would be based on population with the counties’ money being divided half by population and half split evenly among the 67 counties.

2. More Alabama politicians call for the editor/publisher/owner of a newspaper to step down from his own paper, which has published multiple offensive editorials

— An irrelevant small town paper is under-fire from all political players in Alabama with calls for an apology and a resignation coming from both parties. The Democrat-Reporter in Linden, Alabama, has run a number of offensive editorials in the past few years and its editorial referencing the KKK to its 3,000 readers drew national condemnation. House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) called for readers to cancel subscriptions and advertisers to pull their advertising, which is the right call for a public official being critical of a media outlet.

1. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) could draw his first challenger today

— Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Mobile) is expected to announce his decision to enter the race for U.S. Senate in 2020. Byrne has been criticizing Jones for months and this was widely expected. Byrne will be a formidable foe in a GOP primary, as he finished second in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial race and in the general election where Jones is expected to face an uphill climb for re-election.